Savings bonds vs whatever else

[DuckDogs]

I'm hoping that once they graduate from High school or college (if they go)- that they can use this to either make a down payment on a house or a reliable car or something to that effect. It will be money put to good use not just cashed out and a here ya go spend it however you want it kind of thing. Being 9 and 12 they already have a pretty good handle on how money works and things like that. In fact people say I'm a cruel mother. When we go to the mall or shopping if they want something like a Wii game etc. I make them pay for it themselves. They get birthday and Christmas money- so they get part of that money to keep and the rest goes in their savings. I work hard for what I have and the only debt I have is my mortgage and normal monthly bills like Dish, Phone, utilities, etc. But I don't believe in buying my kids anything they want so if it's something they would like to have then they need to make sure they can "afford" it. Plus their dad (my ex) would give me grief for "spoiling" them. When I graduated from college my mom gave me the balance in my savings and I paid for most of my wedding with that money. When we built our house we had stock and we cashed that all out to make our down payment and then add a garage to the house. When we got divorced we sold the house and split the equity. Now I bought this house on my own 2.5 years ago already- time flies.

Aren't 529 plans strictly used for schooling expenses?

I don't know anything about gold etc so I don't know that I would be able to invest well with that.

You are correct - 529s are meant for eligible education expenses only. If your intent is a down payment on a home or vehicle - I would probably suggest looking into a taxable mutual fund account. Vanguard has the lowest expenses and offers a variety of funds. If you wanted to keep it simple - you could choose a fund that tracks the total stock market or just the s&p 500. Those are not actively managed so the fees are next to nothing. As the time approaches that you might want to take the money out, you can shift out of stocks and into a bond/money market type fund.

With that being said - if you are risk averse when it comes to money, it might be best to avoid stocks all together. It really comes down to what you are comfortable with and how you handle ups & downs in the market.

 

[joe_fale]

The next big thing will be marijuana, IMO...Check out American funds chicky, i have most of my money in them and they have done well the last ten years

https://www.americanfunds.com/

Is this anything like the human fund?

 

[Statman02]

sales fees..........really ?

 

[Scrapman]

PA CHICKY heed me loud n clear about college for you kids

it's now like a scam huge % of college grads can't pay down debts andit's massive debts aquired 100k n more in some instances average debt is $35,000 and that first paying job of maybe $35,000 a year just aint cutting it !

PLAESE i'm living proof from my son's debts only 1 full year at La Slle U highest cost in east coast

10 k fro mom against the house which i'm paying off by december himself $30,000 which will be over $63K if he goes fuill 25 year term

then add in the 15 K parent student sallie mae loan wife took out in her own name and MY son now has a house mortgage without having a house!

Look into evry option for community college for your kids plaese that will save them ruination

make sure they know what career they chose and get them into classes that will get them highest paying ones after graduation.

It's all over news today students are like ruined after graduating and taking parents down the tubes with them.

READ these articles here!

Duke Grad Student Secretly Lived In a Van to Escape Loan Debt

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/duke-grad-student-secretly-lived-in-a-van-to-escape-loan-debt-194021112.html


Student loan debt is worse than it seems


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57505921/student-loan-debt-is-worse-than-it-seems


The looming crisis of student loan debt

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/bennett-student-debt

 

[PAChicky]

We haven't checked into it yet since they are 9 (Kolby) and almost 12 (Breanna) but my daughter wants to go to Equine College and my son has decided to play football and race cars. lol But that can change 100 times until they get serious about what they want to do. You do know there are a lot of programs like grants, scholarships, etc. that kids can get now.

Since your son is now employed he does know that he doesn't have to pay the minimum on his loads? He can pay as much as he wants on them and pay them off early. Just tell them to apply the extra payments to principal only. My ex-husband did that and had his loans paid off in a few years.

If my kids want to go to a University I am not going to tell them they can't go because of not being able to afford their loan payments afterwards. That's just dumb. :facepalm: